Dubai Tour 2016: Elia Viviani takes stage 2 and leaders jersey

At 188 kilometres, stage 2 in the 2016 Dubai Tour is as flat as a skating rink. A crash with 1 kilometre left hinders the ambitions of Kittel and Cav, while Elia Viviani rises to the challenge and wins the sprint. In doing so, he takes the leaders jersey from Kittel. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2nd stage Dubai Tour

1. Elia Viviani (ita)
2. Sacha Modolo (ita) s.t.
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) s.t.
4. Andrea Guardini (ita) s.t.
5. Tomas Vaitkus (lit) s.t.
6. Ben Swift (gbr) s.t.
7. Michal Kolar (svk) s.t.
8. Grzegor Stepniak (pol) s.t.
9. Chris Opie (gbr) s.t.
10. Mark Cavendish (gbr) s.t.

22. Marcel Kittel (ger) s.t.

GC after stage 2
1. Elia Viviani (ita)
2. Marcel Kittel (ger) s.t.
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) + 0.02
4. Sacha Modolo (ita) + 0.04
5. Mark Cavendish (gbr) s.t.
6. Soufiane Haddi (uae) + 0.09
7. Andrea Guardini (ita) + 0.10
8. Tomas Vaitkus (lit) s.t.
9. Michael Kolar (svk) s.t.
10. Christopher Opie (gbr) s.t.

Race report
Once the flag is dropped a group of riders break away. Koen de Kort, Sylvan Dillier, Marcin Bialoblocki and Francisco Mancebo race to a gain of almost 2 minutes.

With 75 km’s left Macebo goes solo and for the first time the gap increases to over 2 minutes, but his former companions catch him after a 6 km’s chase.

Mancebo gives it another go with 17 km’s left, while the gain is down to 10 seconds. His second solo-effort lasts 5 km’s and then it’s gruppo compatto again.

When leaving the tunnel with 1 km to go a Tinkoff-rider crashes, making an end to Kittel’s and Cav’s ambitions to win the stage. In fact, it boils down to an all Italian party with Modolo, Nizzolo, Guardini being outsprinted by Elia Viviani. The Sky-rider takes the leaders jersey in the same time as Marcel Kittel because he is better classified in the points classification.